Faced with an increasingly difficult challenge in growing both average revenue per user (ARPU) and numbers of subscribers, wireless carriers are trying to develop a host of new products, services, and business models based on data services. One such service is location services, which provides information specific to a location including actual locations of a user. It is expected that location based services will generate additional business for the carrier, from both the mobile user and content providers.
For the mobile user as well as the service provider, location-based services offer many opportunities. For example, location-based services can increase revenue of the service provider, e.g., network carrier, while improving services to end users, e.g., mobile users. Some examples of location-based services that can be provided to the mobile user include:                Providing the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant;        Providing alerts, such as notification of a sale on gas or warning of a traffic jam;        Providing weather reports which are germane to the location where the user is using the mobile device, etc.An advantage of using location services is that the mobile user does not have to manually specify ZIP codes or other location identifiers to use location-based services.        
For the network carrier, location-based services provide value add[ed] by enabling services such as:                Resource tracking with dynamic distribution (e.g., taxis, service people, rental equipment, doctors, fleet scheduling, etc.);        Finding people or information for the user (e.g., person by skill (doctor), business directory, navigation, weather, traffic, room schedules, stolen phone, emergency 911);        Proximity-based notification (push or pull) (e.g., targeted advertising, buddy list, common profile matching (dating), automatic airport check-in); and        Proximity-based actuation (push or pull) (e.g., payment based upon proximity (EZ pass, toll watch).        
In addition, location based services are convenient for sharing location data between wireless devices to wireless devices and from wireless devices to stationary devices like a home computer or stationary tracking system or content provider, etc. This would allow a third party to determine an exact location of a mobile user such as, for example, a family member, friend, employee, etc.
In view of the above, location based services can be a very powerful tool for both the end user and the network carrier. However, the full extent of location based services has not yet been realized by the industry. For example, there is no currently effective way to use the services to provide certain conveniences to the end user as well as a service establishment such as, for example, a restaurant. Take for example, the many instances when a person makes an appointment or reservation, but traffic or other issues delay the individual, or other instances when a person arrives to a location early only to wait for a service. In these instances, the service establishment may not be effectively using their resources such as, for example, maximizing their dining capacity. More specifically, knowing that an individual will be late or early for an appointment can prompt the service establishment, e.g., restaurant, to rearrange their reservation list to maximize seating capacity and hence revenue. However, currently the only known way to do this is by trusting the individual to keep the restaurant advised as to their expected arrival time. This, of course, is impractical as the individual will rarely, if ever, inform a restaurant, for example, that they are running either late or early.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.